Waking of Thursday, November 22, 2018
I considered, at the shindig at
Ben’s house. I was too far behind with logging, but.... what the hey. I brought Mary home for a visit, and we played Zelda
anyway. By which I mean I played
Zelda, and Mary watched. She enjoys it—she asked
for it. I assume because it’s the next best thing when I don’t let anybody
touch my consoles!
Besides, I had been holding off on
something fairly large in the game, and I figured this would be a good
opportunity to do it. I dared say it would be entertaining enough, even for someone
just watching.
It was when I watched David do it.
After picking up just a few more
Koroks in the Hebra region, I warped to the Muwo Jeem Shrine on the tall cliff
overlooking the sea, and paraglided to a lonely little island I’d seen more
than a few times. Just a speck of rock, really, made visible only by the
brilliantly glowing orange shrine that took up most of its surface....
I’d seen it there many times. Don’t
know why I’d never gone for it. Maybe because I hadn’t gotten the Faron map
yet, and I wanted to wait. Maybe because it was too far out of the way. Maybe
because it was just a waypoint to that bigger
island out there, paying a visit to which would become almost obligatory, if you were already out that far.... But I’d already seen that
place, through David.
Maybe it was because I’d seen that bigger island.... and I knew what a hassle it would be....
On the tiny island, Tenoko Island,
we found the Chaas Qeta Shrine, which
turned out to hold a Major Test of Strength. I beat this all right, and was
rewarded with.... THE CLIMBING SHIRT!!!! SWEET! 8D
HA! And here I thought I’d surely
find it on some mountain!
It looked cool! Ropes and straps everywhere with dangling carabiners swinging
when I turned.... X-)
I had the set now! ^_^
Upon exiting the shrine, I chucked
my Dragonbone Boko Club out to sea, blew up the resident palm tree, and
collected from its remains a Korok Leaf. Because of course it would drop a Korok Leaf.... as there was a raft to use
right there! Convenient.
Dealing with only a few Octoroks
along the way, we sailed out to the big island. I knew the name of it before it
loomed across the screen:
EVENTIDE ISLAND
And the moment my feet touched the
shore.... those low, heralding bells sounded.... along with the echoing drone
of the monk’s summons.
As well as.... some inane,
irreverent commentary from Mary, which jarred the moment and I didn’t like it,
but.... I didn’t shush her. I’d brought her over so she could enjoy this and
well.... THEM’S
THE FRIGGIN’ HAZARDS. :p
To you who has traveled to this island...
I present you with a challenge. In your
travels, you’ve relied on the equipment
you’ve found along the way.
Here, you must cast this equipment
aside and face this trial with only your
wits and whatever you can scavenge.
And after a brief blackout of the
screen, I stood naked and barefoot on the beach, with no weapon or shield. Just
an empty bandolier and the Sheikah Slate still resting against my sleek blue
undershorts.
Offer up the orbs to the three altars on
this island. Only then will I acknowledge
your skill and return your items.
And the Shrine Quest title flashed
across my screen: Stranded on Eventide,
and I was free to move again.
I checked my inventory. As it had
been with David, everything I had was gone. Weapons, shields, bows, clothes,
items, monster bits, food....
Everything.
Well, I did at least still have the
paraglider, though.
Hoo, and I’d thought things were
skinny after freeing the Great Fairy Tera....
It had been more shocking to David
and I when we’d both watched him play
this part. But I’d been expecting it now. Time
to get down to business, I thought....
I combed everything I could from
the beach, besting a meager camp of three Red Bokoblins with something like a tree branch.
Thank
goodness they were only red ones. The weakest kind. A fair marriage to what
humble weapons there were to be found. I still felt somewhat spoiled by how
many hearts I had by this time, though. David
had done this island on a much
shorter life-meter.... and shallower
pockets....
I found the first orb at the top of
a small treehouse guarded by mostly Red Bokoblins. I was able to snipe the
lookouts using a very basic bow I had
taken from another Bokoblin, and for the rest of them, well.... for each one I
put down, that was another dropped weapon for me to pick up as the ones in my
hand shattered. Bats and clubs and spears, all glorified sticks, really, and
not very hard-hitting. But they sufficed. There was the occasional sword as
well.
I had no protective clothing, but
the island provided for if I should take hits—crabs along the beach, a
smattering of banana trees in the dense patch of jungle, fish already roasted
on spits and swiped from Bokoblin fires.... I was confident I’d be just fine.
With the treehouse cleared I picked
up the orb, tiptoed past the snoring Blue Hinox slumbering in the sunny open
dell in the middle of the island, and made for the pointy end of Eventide.
Half a stone’s cast from the beach,
an outcrop of black rock jutted out of the sea. And on that rock was the first
of the pedestals. I had to put the
orb in there.
Now DAVID.... had done this in a REALLY AMAZING WAY—he had Magnesed the
Woodcutter’s Axe from the stump in the middle of the little bog back in the
jungle, taken careful aim, chopped down a
palm tree so that its log extended between the beach and the outcrop, and
then WALKED ACROSS THIS LOG while
carrying the orb.
And THAT.... was friggin’ amazing.
I, on the other hand, I did what we’d
later seen PB & Jeff do: threw the orb in the water and lifted it up by
Cryonising an ice pillar beneath it. It was still tricky, mind! But nowhere
near as hardcore as David’s method had been.
Once I’d placed the orb, it
vanished away in a melt of blue light, and the pedestal likewise lit up blue.
One down, two to go!
I considered confronting the Hinox
next (it wore an orb around its neck), but.... No. I went in search of the
other orb first. And I found it perched on a tower in the midst of a much
stronger baddie camp, a fair distance up the highest hill on the island.
Night had fallen by the time I’d
properly scoped out the place. I tried for a stealth approach, and was able to sneakstrike a few of the Bokoblins, but
when that last Black Moblin spotted me, well.... we just had to go at it the
old fashioned way.
Fortunately my deep pockets and
growing collection of crude spears and clubs saw me through, until the run of
the high camp was mine. I collected
the orb, whacked the impeding slab
off the pedestal with a bit of Stasis, and claimed the second pedestal.
Now all that was left was that Hinox....
And for this I had long planned to emulate what David had
done....
The Hinox snored in the low spot
between the two highest hills on the island. I’d already dealt with the highest
hill, but for this I would need the second highest. And the second highest hill
held another baddie camp, this one
with Electric Chuchus. David’s
encounter with them here on this island had been the first time we’d ever seen
them. But even then I’d been able to pass on some words of wisdom from Madman
Joseph—don’t attack them directly,
because they’ll explode.
That was one spoiler I was glad of
at least.
And so I spent a few more of the
precious arrows I’d collected to blow up the sparking green Chuchus and
subsequently flash-fry most of the remaining enemies. And the second highest
hilltop was mine.
This hill was important not only
for the third pedestal which rested at its top, but also for its craggly, rocky
surface on the side leading toward the Hinox’s dell. For partway down that slope
was the perfect shelf from which to
play Bomb-Golf....
There were also a few large
boulders at the crest, and I pushed these off as well as I could toward the
slumbering Hinox. At least one of them made contact, and that put a damper on his day all right. He woke up and stood
up and found me and started throwing rocks and roaring unintelligible curses
I’m sure. And down I scrambled to that one broad stone, just out of reach of the Hinox’s projectiles and just big enough for me and a Deku
Leaf....
I must say, Mary was most unimpressed with this pansy
approach, and I don’t blame her. But once I’d set up camp I doggedly planted
Bomb after Bomb at my feet, whiffing
them off into the blue with the Deku Leaf’s gusts of air, and detonating them
as they landed in the Hinox’s vicinity. It took a loooong time, but eventually the Hinox succumbed to its inevitable
death by a thousand small explosions.
I paraglided down, collected all
the leftover bits, and picked up the third and final orb. This I marched back
up to the top of that second highest hill, and planted in the final pedestal.
And at once across the way, on the tallest grassy top of the highest hill, the Korgu Chideh Shrine came rrrumbling up out of the earth.
The monk spoke again.
You’ve done well to complete the trial.
I will now return your things, as
I promised.
And a brief blackout, and I had all
my clothes and gear on again.
Huhh, I’d become.... rather fond of
the wild boy look. :c
Though
I guessed I could adopt it any time I wanted to.... the climate allowing....
Come, enter the shrine.
It was a Blessing.
*
That romping shrine quest was just
enough, and shortly after we’d finished I took Mary back home.
When I got back, I booted up the
game again and, feeling aimless like I do, I found myself simply enjoying the
day up on top of the highest hill of Eventide. The spot, close to sea level as
it was, had that high cold music.
That prayerflag song. Huh....
!
I stiffened as I realized that
someone was sitting just a bit down the hill from where I was.
A
Rito.
The feathers looked dark, though
that may simply have been an effect of the sun setting in the sky beyond.
I approached him.
His name was Mimo. Oh hey his sidelocks
looked.... like Link’s did when he
wore the Wingaling Hat.... all bound
up with that anchor-shaped weight on the end.... Was the Wingaling Hat a Rito item then?
Mimo spoke to me about flying, and, wouldn’t you know it, he
ran a certain little minigame....
And I spent the next half hour or
so throwing rupees at this Mimo in exchange for the pleasure of jumping off the hilltop to navigate
through a series of floating hoops Mimo had placed all over the airspace. Aided
by a few updrafts that hadn’t been there before, I was able to rack up a higher
and higher hoop-count until Mimo acknowledged my mastery of the air and
rewarded me back with a hefty sum of rupees of my own. It was much fun! XD
When I’d had enough of the flying
course, I went back to Hebra, Koroked a little more and then.... put it to bed.
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